Wire-tying machine



March 10, 1925- A. J. GERRARD ET AL WIRE TYING MACHINE Filed Nov. 29.1920 6 Sheets-Sheet l hun. www QW March M), 1925 A. J. GERRARD ET ALwrm: TY'ING MACHINE f5- Sheets-'Sheet 2 Filed Ngv, 29. 1920 P Y M. Y\ am"lul uns rune lucana Filedjtov. 29. 1920 A. J. GERRARD Er AL Maz'ch. l0,1925 A.- J. GERRARD ET AL.

WIRE TYING MACHINE Filed Nov. 29. 1920 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Aff/e@ JerramSnom,

March 10, 1925- A. J. GERRARD ET Al.

wma TYING Incarne Filed Novl 29. 1920 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 A efffernzm' ufarvi #My/s March l0, 1925- Y A. J. GERRARD ET AL 'IRE TYING IACHINE meanov. 29; :1920 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

UNITED STATES `PATENT oFFlcE.

vAIT-EC J'. GERRARD AND PABV'IN WRIGHT, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WIRE-mme MACHINE.

Application led November 29, 1920. Serial No. 427,101.

ful Improvements in Wire-Tyin Machines;

and we do hereby-declare the ollowing to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to wire twisting -machines and has for its objectto provide an apparatus of this nature especially adapted for wiringbundles, boxes, etc., which will be simple in construction,coinparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and more efficient inoperation than those which have been heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel details of construction and combinations of parts more fullyhereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all theviews:

Figure 1 isv an end elevational view of a machine made in accordancewith this invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational-view of the 'parts shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged partially sectional view of the operating wheeland its associated parts Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is a view of the parts Shown in Figure 3, but looking in anopposite direction;

Figure 6 is a plan view of the reel for holding the wire;

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a view partially broken away, of the motor and gear trainoperating the twisting mechanism;

Figure 9 is a sectional view of a portion l of the parts shown in Figure8;

Figure 10 is an enlarged detail view of the wire, the driving shaft, thewire twisting gear train, and its assoclated parts;

Figure 11 is an enlarged sectional view of the wire tensioning frictionclutch;

Figure'12 is an enlarged perspective view of a modified form of frictionclutch;

-Figure 13 is a sectional view of a somewhat modified form of clutch,shown in Figure 12; and

Figure 14 is a view of theknot tied by this machine.

1 indicates any suitable supporting base; 2 a standard rising therefrom,provided with the holes 3 into which fitv a supporting pin 4 `on whichrests the sleeve 5, carrying the arm 6 rovided with the bundle support-70 ing plate Slidingly connected with the standard 2 is the frame 8carrying the twisting` mechanism, as will be presently described. Risingfrom said frame 8 is the guiding member 9 passing through the 75 sleeve10 rigid with the arm 11, carried b the head 12, which latter is alsorigid with said standard 2.

The extreme top of the standard 2 is provided with the circular plate13, through 80 which passes the power shaft 14, rigidly attached to themember 15 as by the key 16, see Figure 4, and loosely mounted on saidshaft 14 is the clutch o erating wheel 17, as shown. Said wheel 1g aplurality of spokes 18 each of which is provided with a hole 19, as bestshown in Figures 3 and 4. Passing through one of the holes 19 is 'a pin2.0 rigid with the armk 21, having a right-angular extension 22 90passing through a hole 23 in the member 15,

and provided with the cam 24, as shown. Carried by the stationary member15 -andpivoted thereto as at 25 and 26 respectively,

are the pawls 27 and 28, controlled bythe 95 springs 29, and the lowerends 30 of which take against the curved surfaces 31 of the stationarymember 13, as will be readily un` derstood.

The wheel 17 being loosely mounted on the 100 :shaft 14, and connectedto the member 15 which is rigidly mounted thereon, as liust disclosed,it is evident thatif said wheel be turned in a clockwise direction, asindicated by the arrow in Figure 3, it will move idly 105 through aconsiderable angle, or, say, through 90 during which time it will haveAacquired considerable momentum before the strain will be brought on thepin .20 and the members 21 and 22`to pull the ymember 15 11o bodilyaround with the wheel. VAfter this idle arc of, say, 90 has beenreached, any

is provided with further motion of the wheel 17 will, through the saidmembers 20, 21, and 22, pull the said member 15 around with said wheeland this said motion will cause the shaft 14- to rotate ,during thelrest of'the movement of said wheel 17. The rotation of the shaft 14will turn the pinion 32 carried by said shaft, see Fiffure 2, and therotation of said pinion will movel downwardly the rack 33, with whichsaid guide member 9 is provided. The downward movement of the'rack 33and guide member 9 carries with it the frame 8 and the lower flatsurface 34 of said frame, which takes against the top 35 of the package36 to be wired. In other words, from the construction just described, itis evident that the rotation of the wheel 17 in the proper directionwill lower the surface 34 of the frame 8.onto the top 35 of the packagewhile the bottom 37 of said package is resting upon the platform 7, andthus will the pack. age 36 be squeezed between said surface 34 and saidplatform 7 in a manner which will be readily understood. It is further,evident thatas the pawls 27 and 28 are thus carried around the surface31 of the disk 13 they will .move idly over said surface, and especiallysince the cam 24 will be so turned on the extension 22 as a center, asto sepa rate the pawl 27 `from said surface 31, and' thus prevent ittaking against said' surface 31. On the other hand, when power isreleased from the wheel 17 the natural tendency of the package 36 toexpand will tend to reverse the motionof said shaft 14 and to thusrelease the pressure. However, when 4this occurs, the lower end 30 ofthe pawl 28 will bite against the surface 31 and prevent anybackwardmovement. It thus results that the package 36 is held firmlyunder compression.

In order to conveniently operate the wheel 17 and also to store up aconsiderable momentum therein during the compressing operation, Iprovide on the standard 2 a sleeve 40 provided with an arm 41 whichcarries a sleeve 42 in which is mounted a short shaft 43 on which ispivoted as at 44 a -lever 45 which is provided with afoot treadle 46. asbest shown in Figures 1 and 2. Connected to said lever 45 as at 48 is awire rod or chain 49 which passes upwardly and over the hub 50 of saidwheel 17, as is plainly shown in Figures 1 and 5, and is furtherconnected to a pin 51 which is adjustable in Aone 'of theholes 52-withwhich saidlhub 5() is provided.

Also connected to said pin 51 is a continuation 53 of said wire orconnection 49, and connectedby one end to said member 53 is a coilspring 54 the other end of which is connected with asimilar member 55leading back to the foot treadle 46 and the lower end of which is joinedto the base 1 as at 56.` It thus results that a sharp or sudden push onthe foot treadle 46 will cause said wheel 17 to rapidly revolve, andthus stretch the spring 54, so as to store up power therein. On thepther hand, as soon as theV pressure is relieved from the foot treadle46, the spring 54 will react and turn the wheel rapidly in the oppositedirection. In other words, a little consideration will show that ifpower is suddenly applied by the footto the member 46 the wheel 17 willbe turned in a clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 5 or in a counter#clockwise direction, as seen in Figure 2. The turning of said wheel in acounter-clockwise direction will turn the cam 24 toward the left, asseen in Figure 3, will forcibly remove thevdog 28 from the surface 31and thus will permit the guide 9 and the frame 8 to rise, thus freeingthe package 36, so that, so long as the foot is retained on the member46 said member 9 will be held in its uppermost position. On the otherhand, when the foot is released, from the member 46, the spring 54 willre-act to lower the said member 9 and frame 8 in the manner abovedisclosed. Of course, should it be desired to cause the compressingaction to take place upon the depression of the member 46, instead ofupon the release of said member, it is only necessary to interchange theconnections 49 and 55 with the lever 45, so that said level' will pulldown on, the connection 55 instead of on the Connection 49. It'is animportant feature of this invention, as will appear below, that aconsiderable momentum is stored up in the wheel 17 before thecompression action takes place, for this said momentum is utilized toimpart a maximum compression of the bundle 36 with the cxpenditure of aminimum of power.

Referring more especially to Figure 8, 60

represents any suitable electric motor provided with a drive shaft 61carrying a worin 62 meshing with the worm gear 63 rigid on the maindriving shaft 64 carrying -the driving member 65V and surrounded by thecoil spring 67, the compression of which is adjusted by the nuts 68working on the screw threads 69, with which said shaft 64 is provided.

Mounted on said shaft 64 is the sleeve 70 carrying a tooth ring likemember 71 and a clutch .member 72, all as will be clear from Figure 9.Also mounted on said shaft 64 is the sleeve 73 carrying a clutch member74 with which the sleeve 7 5 isr rigidly connected and rigid with saidsleeve 7.3 is the worm 176 I drawings. In other words, power beingimparted to the motor shaft 61, the worm gear 63 will be turned, whichwill rotate the main drivingmember 65, :rigid therewith, and said member65 will rotate the clutch member 74, or the clutch member 72 accordingto which may be engaged with said driving member 65. If the clutchmember 72 should be engaged with said member 65, then the sleeve will bedriven by said member 65 and shaft 64 and the driving of said sleeve 7()will turn the driving pinion 80, the main twisting gear 81, and thetwisting pinion 82. 0n the other hand, if the clutch member 74 should beengaged with said driving member 65 as is indicated in Figure 9, thenthe sleeve 73, -worm 76, and worm gear 77 will be driven by said motor60 and motor shaft 64, all as will be clear from the drawings. Mountedin a portion 85 of the frame 8 is a wire holding post 86 located on oneside of the twisting pinion 82, while mounted in another portion 87 ofsaid frame 8 is another wire holding post 88 located on the other sideof said twisting pinion 82. Surrounding the post 88 is a cutter 89 inall respects similar to the cutter illustrated in our copendingapplication #391,678, tiled ,Tune 25, 1920, and entitled Automatic wiretensioning and tyingmachine. l

Briefiy, this said cutter 89 is Voperated through the lever 90 indicatedin dotted lines in Figure 10, which lever is operated through a'connection, such as 900 with the main driving gear 81, all as isdisclosed in said copending application. 91 represents an enlargement orpartial housing for the worm gear 77 and its associated parts. As isbest illustrated in Figure 11, one face of the worm gear 77 is hollowedout as at 92 and a portion thereof is inclined as at 93 and is .providedwith a friction material 94, which may extend substantially throughoutthe hollowed space, as indicated, and against which fits a friction disk95. Said disk is held in place by means of the nut 97 fitting on the hub98 of the worm gear 77, and the outer periphery of said disk 95is curvedas at .99 for a Vpurpose presently to be described. A short shaft orbolt 100 passes through the hub 98 of the worm gear 77 and is providedwith a nut 101 which takes against the enlargement or housing 91 of theframe work 8, all as is plainly shown in Figure 11.

Loosely mounted on said bolt or shaft 100 is the companion disk 102provided with a curved periphery 103. Fitting underl the head 104 of theboltl 100 and taking against the outer surface of the disk 102 is thespring 105 which governs the distance between the surfaces 99 and 103when a wire is wedged between said surfaces, all as will presentlyappear. In' other words, it will be seen below that the surfaces 99 and103 constitute a gripping means by which a bight of the wire. may bereadily gripped and' a tension placed thereon when the worm gear 77 isrotated. Mounted on the shaft 43 see Figures 1 and 2, is a reel 108 forholding a 'coil of wire 109. Said reel comprises a bottom supportingmeans 110 on which rests said coil of wire 109; and a top plate member111 provided with downwardly depending holding members 112 littinginside said coil 109.

Immediately' under the top member 111 is asecond member 113 providedwith downwardly depending feet 114', which alternate with the holdingmembers 112 and also extend on the inside of the coil of wire, so thatthe latter -is firmly held in place. Said supporting members 110 arerigid with the rotatable hub like member 115, mounted on the sleeve 116held in place by the-member 42. as above described; located to one.

side of the plate 111 and rotatable around the periphery thereof is thetube member 120.

Said tube member 120 is provided with.

the universal joint 121 see Figures 1 and 2, so that it may freely swingaround said member 111 to uncoil the wire. while the wire 122 passes upthrough said revolving tube 120 and into the goose neck shaped tube 123secured to the head 12, as at 124, all as will be clear from thedra-wings.

It thus results fro-m this construction that a wire such as 122 may bereadily unwound from a coil 109, and carried by the tubes v120 and 123,to a point 124 in close proximitl to the twisting pinion mechanism, aswi be readily-understood.

The operation of this machine isas follows.:

The platform 7 havingbeen suitably adjusted along the standard I2, it isclamped in place by the pin 4, whereupon a box 36 or other package to bewired is placed upon said platform, whereupon the foot pedal 46 whichhas been previously depressed in order to maintain the surface 34 of theframe 8 above said box 36. may now be released. The releasing of thefoot pedal 46 will permit the spring 54, which was previously undertension. to now rotate the wheel 17 in a clockwise direction as seen'inFigure 3, and this rotation will cause the pinion 32 to move therack 33and frameS momentum will be used up in compressing the package in themanner above-disclosed. The package having been thus put undercompression, the pawl 28 will automatically take against the surface 31of the disk 13 and prevent said compression from being released. i

An end 130 of thewire 122 may now be suitably attached to the holdingpost 86, whereupon its bight 132 may be passed in a clockwise direction,as seen in Figure 10,

through the slots 131, through the slot 83' of the twisting pinion 82,through the slot 133 on the right hand side of said pinion 83, throughthe slot of the holding post 88, and around the package'36 and back tothe holding post 86, whereupon what now becomes the bight 134 of saidwire is again passed through the slots 131, 83, and post 88 in parallelrelation, all as will be clear from Figures 8 and 10.

From the post 88 the said bight 134 passes into the space between thecurved surfaces 99 and 103, as best shown in Figure l1, and 'becomeswedged there, so that the turning of the disks 95 and 102 by means ofthe friction material 94, will cause said bight 134 to be put undertension. Thel amount of friction that exists between the clutch member95 and the surface of the worm gear 77 is regulated by the nut 97, whilethe gripping action between the surfaces 99A and 103 is regulated by thespring 105, all as will be clear from Figure 11.

The motor continuing to run, and the worm 76 continuing to turn the wormgear 77, there will come a time when the clutch member 95 will slip overthe surface of the gear 77, and thus will the increase of tension on thewire cease. In other words, the nut 97, see Figure 11, will determinethe amount of tension which is automatically kput into the bight 134 ofthe wire through the continuous action of the motor 60 and worm 76.

When the maximum tension of the wire due to this said slipping action ofthe clutch member 95 occurs, the worm 76 will automatically move towardthe right, as seen in Figure 10, on the worm gear 77 as a guide, andagainst the compression of the spring 67. Again the adjustment of thenut 68 will determine this lateral movement of the worm 76, and also thetension that isto be put upon the 'bight 134. The movement of the worm76 towardthe. right, as liust stated, will carry with it the sleeve 74`lthe sleeve 75 rigid with' said sleeve 74, and

the depending annular lug or ring 135, see -Flgure 9, which takesagainst' the circular shoulder with which the clutch member 72 rovided.V

n other words, when the worm 76 thus moves against the compression ofthe spring 67, it disengages the tooth 136 of the clutch member orsleeve 74 from the tooth 137 of the driving member 65, and causes thetooth 138 of said drivingmexnber to engage one of the teeth oftheclutch. member 72. Of

co11 1's e,if nothingelse were provided to pre- `bights is accomplishedby providin vent it, the spring 67 being under compression wouldimmediately force the tooth 136y face 163 of the member 71 which isrigid with the sleeve 70. The engagement of said surfaces 162 and 163and the rotation of the member 71 is compelled by means of the fact thatas soon as the tooth 136 leaves the tooth 137 the tooth 138 will engageone of the teeth such as 164 of the clutch member 72 and thus compel thesaid member 71 to rotate relatively to the said member 160.

It thus happens that the cam-surfaces 162 and 163 force a tooth such as164 well over toward the right, as seen in Figure 9 and into engagementwith the driving tooth 138 of themember 65, and the fiat surface 166 ofthe member` 160 will hold theparts in position, as just stated, until acomplete rotation is had, during which the twisting operation isaccomplished.

That is to say, the engagement of said driving member 65 with the clutchmember 72 in the manner just stated will cause the Continuously rotatingshaft l64 to turn the sleeve 70, the driving ypinion 80, the twistinggear 8l and the twisting pinion 82, which latter will twist together thebights 132and 134 of the wire 122, all as will be clear from Figures 8,9, and 10. The knot thus produced by the action describedl isillustrated in Figure 14.

It is very desirable in machines of .this kind to be able toyreadilydisengage the twisted wire from the slot 83 of the twistingpinion, and in order to do this, said slot 83 must accurately. registerwith the slot 133 of the frame, see'Figure 8. But when the bights 132and 134 are thus twisted together, their natural tendency is to untwistand to thus reverse through a. small angle the motion of the saidpinion-83, which tends to bring the slot 83 out of register with theslot 133.

In order to void this tendency, it is'important that 'the wire bights132 and -134 l should be overtwisted, so that when it untwists, it willjust bring the slots 83 and 133 into register. This 'overtwisting of thesallld t e member 71, Figure 9, with the hook s aped tooth 170 whichVfits into a corresponding depression in the member 160. But when themember 71 is rotated in the manner above disclosed, the said hook liketooth 170 passes'be'yond its normal position before it can snap'baekinto its companion slot, and this excessive movement puts in the extratwist above mentioned.

It thus happens that a reverse motion of the pinion 82 will carry thehook 170 back into its normal position, shown in Figure 9. The snappingback of the tooth 170 in the manner disclosed is rendered possible byreason of the fact that the clutch member 72is at thatl time disengagedfrom the tooth 138, and therefore the twisting mechanism is not subjectto the power of the shaft 64.

Immediately after the twisting operation has been completed, the' rollermember 900, Fif'rure 10, with which the gear 81 is provi ed, strikes theend of the lever 90, see dotted lines in Figure 10 and operates thecutter 89 to sever the said bight 134, and thus to leave the wire 122ready for another operation.

It will thus be seen that a continuous operation of the motor 60'firstputs the wire under a predetermined tension, determined by the power ofthe spring 67 and its adjustment, and also determined by the frictionbetween the clutch member 95 and the surface of the worm gear 77.

Owing to the fact that the wheel 17 is of a considerable weight andowing to the further fact that a considerable amount of power is storedup therein before the compressive action on the package 36 takes place,an operator can, with relatively light effort, put the package 36 undera considerable compression, so that when the wire is tensioned inaddition, the said packages are banded with very tight wires indeed, andthus is the efficiency of the machine greatly enhanced.

In the somewhat modified form of tensioning device illustrated in Figure12, the construction is substantially the same as that just disclosed inconnection with Figure 11 except that the disk 102 is replaced by thedisk 150, which is rovided with the holding slots 151 in to W ich thebight 134 can be readily broughty as illustrated, in Figure 12, and saiddisk150 being rigid with the clutch member 95 as illustrated in Figure13, the placing of the bight 134 into one of the slots 151 as shown,causes said bight to be positively held and to partake of the rotationof said clutch member 95.

Tension will therefore continue to'be imparted to said vbi ht 134 untilthe clutch slips, whereupon te spring 67 will be compressed, as abovedescribed, and the twistin operation brought into action, all as will bereadily understood from the foregoing.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details ofconstruction as well as the arrangement of Darts without departing fromthe spirit yof the invention, and therefore, we do not wish to belimited to the above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a-wire tying machine the combination of a support for the packageto be wired; means for compressing said package prior to the wiringoperation; and means to actuate said Acompressing means comprising amovable member to which momentum may be imparted before said compressingmeans begins to function, substantially as described.

2. In a` wire tying machine the combination of a support for the packageto be wired; means for compressing said package prior to the wiringoperation; and means to actuate said compression means compris-A ling aloosely mounted movable member to which momentum may be impartedbeforesaid compressing means begins to function; and loosely mountedconnections between said movable member and said compressing means,substantially as described.

3. In a wire tying machine the combination. of an adjustable support forthe package to be wired; an adjustable compressing means for saidpackage movable toward and from said support; a shaft for moving saidcompressing means; awheel loosely mounted on said shaft-for rotating thesame; and connections between said -shaft and .wheel adapted to permitsaidl wheel to acquire a considerable momentum before actuating saidshaft, substantially as described.

4. `In a wire tying machine the combination of an adjustable support forthe package to be wired; an adjustable compressing means for saidpackage movable toward and from said support; a shaft for moving saidcompressing means; `a wheel loosely mounted on said shaft for rotatingthe same; connections between said shaft and wheel adapted to permitsaid wheel to acquire a considerable momentum before actuating saidshaft; and automatic means associated with said shaft for holding saidpackage under compression after' said Wheel has ceased to operate,substantially as described.

5. In a' wire tying machine the combination of an adjustable support forthe package to be wired; an adjustable compressing means for saidpackage moveable toward and from said support; a shaft for moving saidcompressing means; a wheel loosely mounted on said shaft for rotatingthe same; connections between said shaft and wheel adaptedto permit saidwheel to acquire a considerable momentum before actuating said shaft;automatic means associated with said shaft for holding said packageunder compression after said Wheel has ceased to operate; and means forautomatically releasing said holding means upon a reversal of the motionof said wheel, substantially as described.

wired; means to compress said package comprising an; actuating shaft; aWheel loosely mounted on said shaft for actuating the latter;connections between said Wheel and shaft; and connections adapted topositively turnA 'said wheel in one vdirection and to store up power toautomatically turn it in an opposite direction, substantially asdescribed.

7. In a wire tying machine the combination of a support for the packageto be wired; means to compress said package comprising a movable framecarrying?, a Wire twisting mechanism; a guide memben and ter;connections between said Wheel and shaft; connections adaptedv topositively turn said wheel in one direction and to store up power toautomatically turn it in an opposite direction; a dog for preventing alreversal of the compressive action; and means for releasing said dogupon a reversal of the motion of said wheel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we aiiix our signatures.

ALEC a. GERRARD; PARvIN WRIGHT.

